Wednesday, January 29, 2014

My SS1600 Ironbutt Ride Attempt.....

I had a go at a SS1600 over the weekend of 17 September.

Planning took weeks, I explored 5 different routes and gradually eliminated them in favour of the final one (map below) for various reasons such as fuel availability and opening hours of non-24hr servos, general route levels of difficulty etc etc.

Absolutely ACED the weather! Dunno how – it just worked this time!

Settled upon this route:



Here is the plan:



If I left about 5.00am and stuck to the plan – all things should work beautifully.

For instance – heading north to Gympie just as the sun peaked over the horizon gave a lovely sunrise, and then a course change to the west put the sun to my back – good for eyes, good for seeing – less fatigue!

Then, the north westerly ride to Springsure whilst the sun was overhead, north for 80 clicks while it was getting lower, then eastbound from Emerald as it set at my back.

Having to look into sunlight, putting up with heat/cold, being uncomfortable in any way, or simply being distracted by anything annoying are all factors that make you less fresh and more fatigued. It was this ethos with which I planned the ride. I also didn’t want to be out west during ‘roo’ times of the day – so I tried to get back on the Bruce Hwy around the traditionally worst times.

Here is a shot of the sunrise:



Fellow FarRider (#23) and accomplished IBA Member #30,435 (and mate), Gadget asked if he could join me for the blast, offering to be my start/finish witness into the package. That was great (having your own JP personally witness you wasn’t too bad a thing).


We agreed about some of the contingencies – allowing for a 2nd bike/person in certain instances such as our different levels of stamina, fatigue, capabilities - he is a diabetic and a nightshift worker; if HE broke down,  got a flat or simply failed to proceed; AND his lovely Beemer needs to drink sooner than the ST, so my fuel stops were longer than he would have planned for himself. Then I thought – he’s a FarRider and Ironbutt Member! Rob’s put up with more than I could throw at him!   :-p

I got used to this site a lot through the day:



Anyways, as the miles clicked over, everything went perfectly. Each fuel or rest stop I was a few minutes ahead of schedule, and that was comforting.
Apart from an emu that wanted to join me on the bike, there were no real dramas to report. Temps went from 7* in the morning to 32* during the day/arvo.

Plenty of hydration was the answer to combat the heat. I gave a thought to the Special “K’s” SS1600 in 42* temps and wondered how they got through it? You can notice a 1 degree temp change in the weather on the bike – let alone 10 more degrees than the heat we were feeling! – Well done guys.

Great run right through to planned rest at Calliope. It is quite frustrating sitting on 100km/h on roads that are begging you to do 130+ on them! But dem’s da rules!

Checked into the IBA Hotel:



Then it was time for the last 370kms. This is where it changed a fair bit for me. I’d put on all the warmth layers, and headed off. The EXTRA vigilance required at night from oncoming traffic headlights, wildlife and the cold – together with already have ridden 1300 clicks this day made the last (particularly 200kms) very challenging.

I signalled to rob a couple of times that I was pulling over for a break, stretch and re-vitalise.

My body was telling me now it had been asked a lot of for 20+hours. Aches and pains were beginning in my lower back and neck, I was cold and then, to top it off – Rick Astley came through the earphones from the MP3 player!

I  had to get one last corner docket 95 clicks from the finish. We tried to warm up a little with some amazing coffees Rob had in a can that warm up once you push the button on the base of the can!

Anyway – one more stint to go and plenty of time to do it in.

Finally arrived at the end point at Kybong – let out a cheer, got the all important end docket and thawed out again inside the food hall facilities. Rob and I were in great nick considering. I spent 30 mins there and felt good enough to ride back down to Caboolture to home and a great, hot shower.

Things that helped me accomplish this ride:
Cruise control – it enabled me to move around a lot on the bike and not tether my hand to the handlebar for 22hrs;
Highway wings – at 6’4” my knees get fairly bent to res on the footpegs – the highway wings offer me a stretch and half a dozen new positions to while away the kilometres;
Easily accessible drink, food, accessories – self explanatory;
A good ride plan that takes a lot into consideration; and

Help and support from a lot of friends on the FarRiders site and the OzSTOC site.

Now for all that paperwork! Special thanks to Gadget for.... you know.

Thanks for reading.

Diesel.


UPDATE:......

My ride was certified by the Ironbutt Association - Toughest Riders In The World.... YAY!

They sent me the certificate and a few goodies to commemorate the achievement....

GOLD! 



A giant thanks to my friends who helped this day come about!               

Cheers,  Diesel     IBA #55491

2013 FarRide to Nambucca with friends, on my Honda ST1300 Pan European...

Well - it started like this....



FarRides ALWAYS start like this. A photo of the bike at the moment I head off.

The difference is - the pack load on the bike in each progressive pic is getting smaller as I find more “Just In Case” crap that does not need to come for the ride.

This FarRide was different for a few reasons - which include planning around incredible storm cells and regions closed off from recent flood damage.

You may have seen the mad scramble on the FarRiders website pertaining to roads like Waterfall Way and their condition and traversable status. Almost up to the 11th hour, I was still seeking confirmations and reassurances from insider info as to whether to execute Plan A, B, or C.

I said to Streak, if we meet at Toogoolawah, Qld - our kms will match up and we will be ‘all good’ for the run down from there. We each got our start dockets and met up to continue.

I had to go through the wee hamlet of Harlin on the way. Harlin has a small bridge over a ‘barely running’ creek that normally has foliage and not much water under it. After the storm activity recently - here are 2 pics of what I saw this time round...



...tells me a few gallons had ‘angrily’ passed this way just prior!

Anyway... met up with Streak as planned....





This first day’s plan was to be ‘nuttin too fancy’ - but a nice run down through the Granite Belt to our o/nite digs in Inverell. We had to NOT go through Allora as the road was closed due to floods - so remained on the A3 to a coffee/munch/fuel stop at Warwick.



We ‘ginned’ around soooo much there, that we decided not to get fuel here, and press on after refreshments.

Along the way, as no doubt, a lot of you had the same.... were road works....



We sat for what seemed like 15 mins - engines off here whilst debris was cleared by heavy machinery, and traffic was allowed to flow again. We ‘filtered’ up to the front of the line (saving about 15 mins in careful overtaking manouvres to do the same at highway speeds), and pulled in behind a couple of pirates - ape-hangers and all. They were a little surprised to see this happen and we got that look that male dogs give each other to see if there’s gunna be a bust up or not. We kept our tails firmly between our legs, and all was good. lol  … Umm... I mean - we let THEM off the hook, and they appreciated it!  yes!



As the miles clock up - Streak does the ‘FarRider Boogie’ - or what he refers to as ‘getting the shifties!’  We are cruising beautifully and all is well. we’d lost half an hour somewhere first up, and haven’t been able to get it back after 400 clicks. Not to worry - just means a little longer before we check in tonight.

Anyway - about 25kms out of Glen Innes - we topped a rise to be greeted by this!!!!!!!!!!



Now.. we’d paired up our Sena SMH10s and yibbered like old women to each other the whole way so far - but the utterances heard over the airwaves at this point are definitely NOT for publication!!!

Luckily - Glen Innes was 25ks away - so we ‘went for it’!

Filling up the bikes was accompanied by an ever growing ‘howling’ of wind gusts, leaves and other flotsam and jetsum flying by, and that thing we motorcyclists do when you see your helmet about to fly off the seat and hit the deck!  (Again - NOT suitable for publication).

Not a bad effort of 496kms one the first tank full.

Just as the tank filled and the fuel nozzle replaced to the bowser, the horizontal rain came. We didn’t even pay for our fuel (yet) - we just jumped back on the bikes and headed hell for leather to the sheltered side of the servo building... straight up on to the walkway and just gave each other ‘the look’. Whew! Then it came. As we were inside, paying for the fuel, you could barely see the rest of the driveway now as the failing light and driving rain covered the view. We had some dinner now and decided to wait it out for a while - or jump on that ARK that was passing by the window! The lovely lady who served us offered up the Truckies lounge as a place to R&R in the meantime....



Then, out came the ipod, the ipad, the iphone and finally - the “I STUCK HERE!”  We watched the weather on Streak’s Radar App, and read some posts from the Website to see how other FarRiders were fairing... That’s where we saw your post Sgt Shultz (ya poor bugga)! We suddenly thought we were doing OK after that! We’d talked about sleeping on the couch in this lounge and putting in an extra big effort the next day, but the storm cell was heading East, and we were heading West - so it should be gone soon.

After just over an hour of waiting - the rain stopped and the radar was clear - so we decided to head out to Inverell to our proper stop for the night...



After talking about being “extra vigilant now” and that this episode may keep some wildlife at bay, we set ourselves up to ride with just about 14 million candlepower between us. Streak sat in behind me and pointed his HIDs out to the tabledrains for extra hitting power with the lights.
At one stage I told him not to be too close in case I had to brake suddenly on the wet road as he looked like he was riding just off my ‘six’. He reported that he was over 80m behind me and dipped his lights to show it... wow! I think he’s running TJ189’s old setup - and it is very adequate to say the least.

More ginning around at the cabin - Oh - and I changed my watch to NSW time before to get another monkey off my back too! Before we knew it, 11.00pm had come around, and the alarm was set for 0315hrs the next morining. (I happen to know of at least 1 FarRider who would have LOVED that much sleep - compared to what THEY got!   lol).

Up and at ‘em. The first part of our plan was to meet Kimmie, Karl and Saaz at Tamworth for brekky, and then all do Waterfall Way through Dorrigo together. However, I got a text from Kimmie letting me know that she had had ‘issues’ and would not be there - but instead further down the road. (She will have a VERY interesting read of a ride report too). We met Saaz there who noticed his speedo cable wanted off the bike, but he caught it at the pre-ride inspection and fixed it...




The three of us were to then meet Kimme and Karl down the road at Bendemeer... which we did...



Karl told us of an ongoing electrical problem with the ‘Bird (Angel - NOT Kimmie), and she needed to be push-started. Once started - both rider and Blackbird behaved themselves (seemingly) perfectly, although Kimmie did report a little more coughing and spluttering at lower revs.


Whatever was going on between Kimmie and Angel (her Honda Blackbird) was all forgiven as you can see here that they made up. Angel thanked Kimmie by starting perfectly and not playing up so much for the rest of the trip (I think)...



A little further along, Chris joined the congo line, looking to complete his first FarRide, and we had a great little team for the journey. We stopped at Fusspots - a nice coffee shop at the top of the range for coffee before the final push in to Nambucca Heads.


L to R: John (Saaz), Kimmie, Chris and Streak.

NOW.....
 
Next - neither words nor pictures can describe the beauty of the countryside along Waterfall Way after rains. I’ll have to use a few of the superlatives available like magnificent, outstanding, resplendent, gorgeous - you get the idea... these pics won’t do it justice - but here goes...
 






And then the piece de resistance - as we rounded one of the tight bends on fantatic bitumen - we were faced with one of the reasons for naming this road....



What an experience!
 
Here is a happy camper... err FarRider...
 

I took this video of coming down the mountain following Kimmie... Just awesome girl!

 
VIDEO of GIRL MAN-HANDLING BLACKBIRD - pls watch in 720p resolution and has a great sound too!

 
Our group pulled over half way down and did the ‘fist pump’ at how much fun we were having.  lol
 
 
We continued to ‘Bucca, Karl had shot through to Coffs to get Angel a new battery, and we stopped at a lookout just above the V-Wall Tavern and FarRide Check in...
 




 
We checked in - ON TIME - and another monkey was cast off my back into the never never....
 

 
That pic says it all!

Here are some more assorted shots...



A great night of frolicking and fellowshipping ensued. Some extremely funny stories were heard from many camps before Mr Sandman reminded me that he had some business to take care of with my eyelids... Here is a pic of what this looked like from my point of view...




Next morning saw the usual goodbyes just before a few of us headed up to the famous “Breakfast at Urunga”...



In this last pic - Chris thought I was going to steal something from his plate, and kept a close watch!

FINALLY...

Had another fantastic run the back way out of Coffs to Grafton - via Glenreagh on the Orara Way. - WOW!

Stopped at Casino for a stretch...



Like a Tiger!!!!

And had a further great run over Mt Lindsay from Rathdowney to Dugandan Pub at Boonah for lunch...



We parted ways around about there and I arrived home 1667kms after leaving it having had another bonza weekend!

These two FarWeapons have become quite good friends by now.....



Thanks go to all the usual suspects for the organisation, and to you for being you - coz that was the fun bit about meeting up with you once again.

Glad to hear everyone got home safely and relatively incident free. (Notwithstanding Ghosty’s further attempt to decimate another one of our national symbols!)

Cheers, Diesel